Feb. 28, 2007

COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina’s women’s tennis team rebounded from a pair of losses over the weekend by defeating Marshall 6-1 on Wednesday at Maxcy Gregg Tennis Center in Columbia, S.C. The Gamecocks improved to 6-2 with the victory and Marshall dropped to 9-5.

USC cruised in doubles, winning first at the No. 2 position with Christyn Lucas and Natasa Vuckovic defeating Thaddea Lock and Karolina Soor 8-1. Gira Schofied and Ana Marija Zubori picked up an 8-3 triumph against the 27th-ranked tandem of Lynzee Kever and Kellie Schmitt to clinch the 1-0 lead for Carolina. Laura Ganzer and Vanessa Pinto ended the doubles as 8-4 victors against Yulia Kashelkina and Jessica Keener.

Following doubles, it took South Carolina a little more than an hour to put the match in the books. On court 3, Zubori blanked Kashelkina for her 19th win of the season. Vuckovic followed with a 6-3, 6-0 victory in her match with Kever at No. 4 singles, and Pinto grabbed the Gamecocks’ fourth point by dispatching Soor 6-0, 6-1 at the second slot.

Schofield gave USC its fifth point of the day when she stunned the nation’s No. 28-rated player Schmitt at the top position. After holding on for a 6-4 victory in the first set, Schofield fell behind 2-0 in the second before winning six games in a row. Schmitt represents the third-highest ranked player Schofield has defeated in her career, as the sophomore posted victories against foes rated 12th and 15th a year ago.

The Thundering Herd got on the scoreboard with a win on court 5. Lock went up 5-0 in the first set against Ganzer and held off a late charge by the senior to win 6-3. Ganzer recovered to win the second stanza 6-4 to force a super tiebreaker. Lock was up 8-5 in the breaker, but Ganzer managed to win the next two points to close the margin to one before losing the last two rallies.

In the remaining match at the sixth slot, Lucas took a 6-3 decision from Jeanne Schwartz in the first set, but Schwartz came back with a 7-5 victory in the second. With not much light left in the day, the super tiebreaker saw Lucas race out to an 8-4 advantage heading to the second changeover. She went on to win 10-7.

South Carolina will begin SEC play Friday hosting Mississippi State at 2 p.m. and then face Mississippi on Sunday at 1 p.m.

#38 South Carolina (6-2) def. #58 Marshall (9-5), 6-1

Singles
1. Gira Schofield, USC, def. #28 Kellie Schmitt, MU, 6-4, 6-2
2. Vanessa Pinto, USC, def. Karolina Soor, MU, 6-0, 6-1
3. Ana Marija Zubori, USC, def. Yulia Kashelkina, MU, 6-0, 6-0
4. Natasa Vuckovic, USC, def. Lynzee Kever, MU, 6-3, 6-0
5. Thaddea Lock, MU, def. Laura Ganzer, USC, 6-3, 4-6, (10-7)
6. Christyn Lucas, USC, def. Jeanne Schwartz, MU, 6-3, 5-7, (10-7)

Order of finish: 3, 4, 2, 1, 5, 6

Doubles
1. #41 Schofield/Zubori, USC, def. #27 Kever/Schmitt, MU, 8-3
2. Lucas/Vuckovic, USC, def. Lock/Soor, MU, 8-1
3. Ganzer/Pinto, USC, def. Kashelkina/Jessica Keener, MU, 8-4

Order of finish: 2, 1, 3